


stop stalling (how did we make such a mess of this)

by Casutama



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Meddling, Minor Sokka/Suki, One-sided Aang/Katara (Avatar), Past Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Relationship(s), They are both in love with each other but neither is making a move
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24371032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Casutama/pseuds/Casutama
Summary: Suki is fed up with Katara and Zuko dancing around each other. It's obvious they're crazy about each other. So why is neither of them making the first move?
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 248





	stop stalling (how did we make such a mess of this)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very new to this fandom (I finished watching A:TLA not even an entire month ago) but Zutara has since taken over my life.  
> This turned out much longer than I anticipated (don't they always) - I just wanted to write a short piece.
> 
> Please be aware that English isn't my first language, so apologies in advance for any awkward word choices or clumsy sentence structures.
> 
> I obviously don't own A:TLA (otherwise, Zutara would definitely be canon!) or these characters. I am just borrowing them and parts of their world for the purpose of this oneshot. I'm also not looking to make money by writing this, I'm doing it because there never can be enough Zutara content.

“… too much of that etiquette stuff!”

Toph’s loud voice disrupts the night silence. She stomps on the ground with her bare feet to further enunciate her point. No matter how much the palace staff tried to intervene, she is steadfastly refusing to wear shoes even to the ball of the annual Peace Summit. Suki admires her for staying true to who she is. Even if who she is is kind of a wild thing – the garden next to the ballroom was probably pretty peaceful before they entered it.

Suki feels with her though. This summit is important and all, she isn’t disputing that, but the party is stuffy. It really mostly serves for Very Important People to congratulate each other (and, more importantly, themselves) on how Very Important they are. It isn’t Suki’s crowd at all. Like Toph, she also feels much more at home on a battlefield than in a ballroom.

“Thanks for coming out here with me, I swear I’ll throw a rock in the face of the next person who wants to use me to get into my family’s good graces.”

“It’s not so much that we came out here with you.” Sokka interjects. He sounds grumpy, and Suki knows that it’s going to take some major soothing from her later to brighten his mood. She doesn’t know what he’s upset about though. Just a second ago, when he asked her to join him for a night-time stroll in the garden, he was in high spirits. “You just sort of latched on to us, Beifong. Suki and I had quite different ideas for coming out here.”

Suki holds back a laugh and settles for rolling her eyes at her boyfriend’s antics and snorting quietly. She should have known that Sokka would have ulterior motives for suggesting a walk.

“Whoa, way too much information, Snoozles! How do you put up with him anyway, Stormy Slices?”

It still amazes Suki that she ended up with the best nickname of the group. ‘Stormy Slices’ is better than ‘Twinkletoes’ or ‘Sparky’, and _much_ better than anything Toph calls Sokka or Katara. Katara is taking it in her stride, but Sokka loudly complained the first time Toph used the nickname to address Suki, his face contorted almost comically. ( _“HEY! Why am_ I _Snoozles while she gets to be Stormy Slices?!”_ )

Present day Sokka just lets out a grumpy snort at Toph’s words. Suki knows now that he isn’t really in a bad mood, just a bit disappointed at the missed opportunity to make out. Well. She’ll gladly make it up to him later, but he doesn’t have to know that now.

“Anyway” Toph continues, “I – oh.” She stops and Suki is confused, until Toph exclaims “Look who’s there!”

“Wh- oh, very funny, Toph!” Sokka grumbles. Again, Suki almost laughs. After all this time, her boyfriend is still fooled every time when Toph jokes about her being blind. “Seriously, that joke’s as ancient as Aang.”

Toph giggles. Suki knows that messing with Sokka is one of Toph’s favourite pastimes. “It’s still funny, ‘cause you always fall for it.”

Sokka – if that is at all possible – looks even grumpier and it takes Suki all her patience not to roll her eyes again. For all that Sokka enjoys teasing others, he can be very bad at being on the other end of the stick. His furrowed brows only relax somewhat when she takes pity on him and leans over to kiss him on the cheek.

“Not a joke this time, though.”, Toph says in that moment. “Sugar Queen and Sparky are over there.”

What?

Suki’s head whips around almost on its own accord. She strains her eyes to make out something in the general location Toph is indicating via a vague movement of her head.

And indeed, there are two figures huddled together, quietly talking.

It is dark. And neither of the two have their faces turned towards the group. That makes it difficult to discern who it actually is. Toph has an advantage here, one that Suki admires – and, although she’ll never admit it to anyone, is secretly more than a little bit envious of – and that would come in handy in battles. She probably recognised their heartbeats or something.

Suki can’t do anything fancy like that. Still, what she lacks in earth vision she can make up with her observance skills. After all, she’s a trained Kyoshi warrior, and she is extremely competent at what she does. When she observes the two figures more closely, she catches a flash of silver. Which means Toph is right about at least one of the two. It _is_ Katara.

Katara stunned everyone present at the party by wearing a traditional Earth Kingdom cheongsam in such a bright silver colour that it looked like she, not Yue, personifies the moon. When she entered the ballroom for the first time, people had a hard time looking away from her. (Although some of the stares were without a doubt because of the insane leg slit. _Suki_ had a hard time looking away, and she is, one, in a happy relationship, thank you very much, and, two, not into women.)

The best part of the entire thing was Toph’s take on it.

* * *

Suki is still staring at Katara, who is making her way effortlessly through the crowd. Well, of course it’s effortless. The crowd is parting for her like the ocean will part only for a powerful Master Waterbender.

The staring is inappropriate, but Katara is a vision. The silver of her dress makes her glow, the tight cut of the cheongsam accentuates her figure in a perfect way, and the leg slit does … the rest. Suki wouldn’t be surprised if a few of the male guests are currently finding the room too hot or their trousers too tight.

Toph leans towards her and Suki tilts her head downwards. Toph clearly wants to say something.

“Sweetness is looking good, isn’t she?” Toph whispers.

She absolutely is. Suki hums her approval, and then… Damnit, this time Toph got her with her joke. Usually, the only person to still fall for that is Suki’s wonderful, but sometimes endearingly clueless, boyfriend.

Still, Toph hit the nail on its head. But… That doesn’t make any sense. How could she have known?

Out loud, Suki groans. “Sokka is right, this is getting old! But how did you know that Katara’s currently dazzling the entire room? Actually, how did you even know she just came in?” she whispers back. Two dignitaries are looking at them darkly. They are supposed to Pay Attention, not whisper. Toph clearly doesn’t care about that, though, because she smirks. Suki is glad about her friend’s carefree attitude – she really wants to know how Toph knows these things.

“Oh please. I know Sugar Queen’s vibrations by heart. That’s easy. As for the other thing…” she drawls the last words and giggles, which is very unlike her. Whatever it is, it must be good. Suki isn’t usually one for gossip. Neither is Toph. But it’s fun when it’s about one of their friends.

“Well” Toph finally says, grin still firmly in place. “Let’s just say, Sparky’s heart missed a beat when she entered the room. And then his heartbeat went through the roof.”

And the two women dissolve into giggles. The two dignitaries look on disapprovingly. No doubt they are going to complain about them later together with other Very Important People. Suki doesn’t care. Let these people think what they like. It’s worth it.

* * *

Yes, it is definitely Katara. Nobody else is wearing anything even close to this dress. Suki doesn’t think that anyone else would have dared.

And the person standing so closely next to her has to be Zuko. Not only because Katara and Zuko tend to be attached by the hip at events like this. Suki is better than that. She recognises him by the outline of his hair. The shape is distinctive.

They are standing beneath a tree some ways away, so immersed in their conversation that they obviously haven’t noticed that they aren’t alone in the garden anymore. The distance between them isn’t large, but it’s still appropriate. But the way in which they so clearly only have eyes and ears for each other is … well, it’s something else.

“They’re really sweet together!” she gushes out loud. Sokka, who has put one arm around her waist, is exhaling softly.

“Correction” he says. She looks at him and sees that he’s scowling. “They _would_ be really sweet together … if either of them managed to just make a fucking move!”

That is the travesty, of course. It is more than clear to anyone with eyes – or with seismic sense – that they like each other. _Like_ like. It is also _painfully_ clear to Suki that they’d be great for each other. For the last two years, ever since Zuko’s Agni Kai against his sister, it has been near impossible to pry them from each other’s sides whenever they happen to be at the same location at the same time. Like this peace summit, for example. They bring out the best in each other – but they aren’t together because neither of them apparently has the courage to make the first step.

Toph snorts. “Couldn’t have put it better myself, Snoozles. They’re being so obstinate it makes me want to build stone walls around them and not let them out until they’re attached by the lips.”

Suki has to stop herself from laughing out loud at the thought of Katara and Zuko trapped in a stone enclave courtesy of Toph Beifong. She has given up hope of either of them ever making a move, so maybe meddling is actually the right way to go. “I’m not the ideas person around here, but that actually sounds like a plan!” she chuckles. She can feel Sokka smiling into her hair.

“I might as well, if they don’t get a move on soon” Toph mutters darkly. “I really don’t get what’s keeping them!”

“You don’t?”

Sokka isn’t scowling anymore, and his tone is not grumpy. He is serious now.

“You _do_?” Suki asks. She’s surprised.

It’s not in Sokka’s nature to be able to empathise with someone so well that he instinctively understands their fears or motivations. He can be a good listener, but empathy isn’t her boyfriend’s greatest strength. And last she’d heard, Katara is blocking every one of his attempts to talk about her relationship with Zuko by saying how the assumption that she might have feelings for the Fire Lord is utterly ridiculous and Sokka is behaving like a gossiping washing woman. Suki knows that he hasn’t had the chance to speak to Zuko about it. The only time they really get to see each other is at big events, and Katara’s almost constantly by his side at those times. And it’s not exactly something you discuss in a letter.

Toph is also looking at him curiously. Maybe she thinks that Sokka knows something from Katara. She can’t know how hard Sokka has tried to speak to Katara and how often he’s failed.

“I mean. Well. Not entirely. But I think I know why Katara’s not making a move.”

Sokka is stuttering now.

“Oh, it better not be because Sweetness still feels guilty for rejecting Aang!” Toph says, emphatically. “’Cause if that’s the case, I’ll have to go knock some sense into Twinkletoes so that he finally tells her in plain words that he’s over her.”

They are being pretty loud. Fortunately, they are quite far away from the lamentably-non-couple, but Zuko’s senses are almost as good as Toph’s even without the Earth vision. So Suki quickly checks if they’ve been discovered. They’re in luck. Zuko and Katara are still talking, and it is clear that they are still oblivious to their presence. Good. She’ll make sure it stays that way.

She understands Toph’s frustration (‘the Aang-situation’ is what Suki calls this entire mess) and while she has no doubt that Toph would be very capable of _motivating_ Aang to tell Katara he’s over her, she is also very sure that for Aang, even now, two years after the fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

“No.” says Sokka. Suki puts a finger to her lips and motions towards their friends. Sokka understands.

“No” he says again, much more quietly. “That’s not it. Or, maybe it is, a little bit, but I think she knows that she didn’t do anything wrong by rejecting him, and when he went away to sulk last time she even said to me – well, ranted at me, more like – that he’ll have to get used to the idea that she’s going to be with someone else eventually.”

It’s good to hear that at least Katara’s side of the Aang-situation is getting better. Still, it goes a bit deeper than what Sokka just said. Katara will probably always feel a bit guilty for hurting her dear friend.

Personally, Suki feels that Aang has been behaving quite childishly about all of it. Sure, getting your heart broken hurts, but he is taking things too far, sulking one day and begging for Katara to at least think about it the next. Then again, he is hardly more than a child, Suki thinks. He isn’t even fifteen yet. Usually, he’s very mature for someone so young, but it makes sense that he can’t behave like an adult about everything.

Overall, though, she agrees with Sokka.

She doesn’t get to talk to Katara that often because they rarely see each other. Katara is in the Southern Water Tribe, and she is with her Kyoshi warriors. Of course, she visited the tribe a few times, but she always has very limited time for these visits, so she spends most of it with Sokka. Otherwise, they only see each other in group settings like this one, where Zuko is usually close-by. Which means that Katara’s time and thoughts are otherwise occupied.

But from the rare conversations they’ve had recently, she knows that Katara has mostly made her peace with the Aang-situation. Aang will simply have to get over himself.

“Enough with the suspense, just tell us!” Toph demands.

“I don’t have any proof or anything, but… Katara gets really weird whenever Mai is brought up.” Sokka says, slowly, like he’s testing how his words sound out loud.

“That’s understandable” says Suki. “She _is_ Zuko’s ex-girlfriend, after all.”

“Hm. Maybe.” Sokka, for some reason, sounds dubious. Suki has to shake her head about her boyfriend. He can really be clueless sometimes.

But Sokka seems to have found his words now.

“No, I actually don’t think that’s it at all. Don’t ask me why I think so, exactly, but over the course of our conversations, I’ve become pretty sure that Katara thinks Zuko is still hung up on Mai.”

Now that’s a surprise. Mostly because nothing could be further from the truth. Zuko hasn’t had feelings for Mai since before his coronation, and even Mai herself has long since accepted that. Suki knows this beyond a doubt from the most trustworthy source there is when it comes to feelings – Ty Lee.

Maybe Sokka isn’t so clueless after all, though. Suki knows that he isn’t stupid. If he genuinely thinks Katara feels this way, he probably has good reasons to think so and is likely right.

And… If Katara really thinks that Zuko still loves Mai, it makes sense she isn’t throwing herself at him. Together with her lingering guilt regarding Aang, it’s no wonder she isn’t making any moves.

“What I don’t get” Sokka’s voice disrupts her from her ponderings “what I don’t get is why _Zuko_ isn’t making the first move.”

Okay, so maybe he _is_ clueless. Suki looks at him with a thoroughly unimpressed expression. _Really_ , Sokka? But Toph makes the point for her.

“Really?!” she asks and sounds as unimpressed and incredulous as Suki feels. “It’s so obvious that a blind person could see it. Literally. I, a blind person, _can_ see it.”

Sokka just stares at Toph and raises her eyebrows for her to continue. Suki revises her earlier thoughts. He _definitely_ is clueless.

“Darling, Toph can’t see your expectantly raised eyebrows” she gently teases him which makes Toph laugh. Sokka grumbles, and Toph takes pity on him by going on to speak.

“Zuko’s heart always goes funny around Katara. Which is a lot of fun for me to observe.” she says, with a smirk, and Suki thinks that no 14-year-old should possess such an evil smirk. “Anyway, that usually gets better when someone joins them. Except when it’s you. Or Hakoda. Then his heartbeat picks up even more.” She’s still smirking when she finishes.

Sokka looks at her blankly. “So…” he says.

“Zuko is afraid that you or Hakoda won’t approve.” Suki confirms Toph’s tale. Sokka turns away from her and she can’t see his facial expression anymore.

“Obviously I can’t measure his heartrate, but I can see with my eyes. When he’s staring at Katara and you or Chief Hakoda look his way, he immediately looks somewhere else. When he sees that other people, like me or Iroh or someone else, catch him staring, he usually just blushes or looks at the floor in embarrassment.”

It feels good to let this out. She hasn't brought it up with Sokka before because she thought it was obvious, but clearly it wasn't. She supposes it speaks well of Sokka and his respect for his sister that the thought hasn't even crossed his mind.

Sokka is silent. It’s clear to Suki that he’s mulling over this new development. Toph enjoys prodding him too much to leave him to his thoughts, though.

“Listen to your girlfriend, Snoozles” she laughs. “Zuko doesn’t say anything because he’s scared you’ll beat him up for having inappropriate thoughts about your little sister.”

Sokka makes a weird noise at the back of his throat.

“Oh, he should be scared” he says, and there’s an edge to his voice, and forget her earlier thoughts about how he respects Katara - Suki is going to be having words with him because it’s none of his–

That’s when Sokka turns back around to face them and she sees that he’s grinning like a maniac.

“Oh, not of me.” He is grinning as though he knows a joke that they don’t. “I’m not beating anyone up. Katara would have my head if I got involved in her love life. Which is kind of the point.” His grin is almost as evil as Toph’s.

And - oh! Suddenly Suki gets it. She won't need to have words with him after all.

“Honestly, I pity the poor guy. He better be scared of Katara, once I’ve told her that the reason His Sparkiness hasn’t said anything to her is because he thinks her Dad or her brother have any say whatsoever in her love life. One way or the other, his body will never be the same again when Katara is done with him…”

And to her great surprise, Sokka, still grinning, is striding forwards in big steps.

“Hey Katara” he yells, and the pair under the tree startles. “I have something super interesting to tell the two of you!”

* * *

_epilogue_

Suki tugs at Toph's dress.

"Come on" she murmurs. There is no more need to keep her voice down, but it feels wrong to speak louder in this still peaceful garden. As soon as Sokka reaches Katara and Zuko, the atmosphere is probably going to change rather abruptly.

"Let's get back inside and leave them to it."

But Toph just grins at her.

"Whaddaya crazy, Stormy Slices? And miss all the Drama? This is the Best. Party. EVER!"

**Author's Note:**

> The trope where fathers or brothers go berserk when someone enters a relationship with their Baby Girl/Baby Sister really annoys me on good days and upsets me on bad days (my Dad was super chill when I first brought home my boyfriend and never made a fuss when I started sleeping over at his place) because it feels so presumptious and sexist, so I wanted to write something to subvert that. Katara deserves better than that, and Sokkas IS better than that.
> 
> Then, of course, I was loosely inspired by the "Oh… It’s not me you should be worried about… It’s my WIFE" tumblr post, except it's "It's my SISTER" in here.
> 
> Feedback would be great (I haven't published a whole lot, this is only the second thing I'm publishing on AO3).


End file.
